The Week Issue 707 page 27 Film: Bronson; Marley & Me; The Burning Plain. Teacher s notes

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1 Teacher s notes This lesson is based on selected elements from texts about three films, and builds on the topical lesson for Issue 706. Teachers should make sufficient copies of the worksheets below and cut them up along the dotted lines where necessary. It is worth noting that the texts are not strictly speaking reviews, but are composites of comments extracted from reviews. 1. Elicit from students the names of as many different genres of film as possible and write them on the board. This could be made competitive by asking students to work in pairs and brainstorm a list of genres in one minute. 2. If you do not have internet access, go on to step 3 below. If you have access to the internet, start the lesson by playing the trailers for the three films, which can be found at the following web addresses: (Note: there are some instances of strong language and violence in the first of these trailers.) Ask students to watch the trailers and answer the questions on p5 of this resource. For question c), students can refer to the list from step 1. Questions d) and e) will obviously be hard for students to ascertain on the basis of a trailer, but by asking them to consider what the plot might be you will be generating interest which will be beneficial when they come to read the reviews. 3. Divide students into groups of three and give each group a set of reviewers comments. Ask them to read the comments and divide them into: positive, negative, and ambiguous. When they have done this they should put the comments to one side they will need them later. 4. Display the list of names on p6 of this resource. Ask students to try to divide them into four categories: actors; directors; reviewers; characters. They are not expected to make much headway with this task, as they will probably only know the names of some of the actors, but the task will provide them with a gist reading task in step 5 below. Note too that some students may have heard of Charles Bronson the actor, whereas here the name refers to the character in the film (who in fact named himself after the actor). 5. Give each student a copy of the jumbled text. Explain that the text consists of three separate texts with the sentences mixed up. Each text is about a different film. The sentences of each text are still in the right order. Ask students to scan the text and check their answers to step Page 1 of 9

2 Answers: Actors Directors Reviewers Characters Tom Hardy Guillermo Arriaga Matthew Bond Charles Bronson Charlize Theron Nicholas Winding Refn Robert Hanks Kim Basinger David Frankel Chris Tookey Eric Bana Owen Wilson Jennifer Aniston Jennifer Lawrence Jenny McCartney Jonathan Romney Cosmo Landesman Philip French Peter Bradshaw James Christopher Sukhdev Sandhu 6. Ask students to work together and try to separate the text into its three constituent texts. Note that this is a challenging task, and in some sentences there are perhaps not enough clues to enable them to do it completely. However, the task requires them to analyse the cohesion of the text in detail, which will in turn raise their awareness of how texts consist of interlocking sentences in which information is carried over from one to the next through the use of (grammatical, lexical or rhetorical) cohesive devices. It is particularly important to monitor this stage and point out clues if necessary. 7. Give out copies of p27 of The Week and ask students to check their answers by reading the original texts. 8. Ask students to look back at the reviewers comments from step 3. Explain that each comment is a paraphrased version of comments which appear in the original texts. Ask them to read the texts again and underline the original comment which corresponds to each paraphrased one. Answers: It s easy to see why the subject of this film will appeal to British people. (We Brits love a hard man, said Jonathan Romney in The Independent on Sunday, so it s no surprise that a film has been made about Bronson s exploits.) It s a very unattractive film and we don t learn anything from it. (That doesn t stop it being a heavyweight contender for most unpleasant, ugly and pointless film of 2009, said Chris Tookey in the Daily Mail. Refn takes a fashionably nihilistic line on Bronson s crimes, but makes no attempt to understand him or to derive any lessons from his behaviour.) There isn t much of a plot to link the different events together. (There s also not much in the way of a story, said Robert Hanks in The Independent. Bronson has interesting isolated incidents, but not much narrative drive.) The main actor s performance is very impressive. (And Hardy is mesmerising in the title role: not since Eric Bana s Chopper have we been given such a powerful performance of a man of violence.) The main stars are perfectly suited to each other. (The pairing of Aniston and Wilson is such an inspired piece of casting, you wonder why it hasn t happened before, said Matthew Bond in The Mail on Sunday.) Page 2 of 9

3 It seems like the aim of the film is to make people feel positive about things. (The movie appears to have been conceived as a safety blanket, a bubble bath for our troubled times, said Sukhdev Sandhu in The Daily Telegraph.) The film could have been much better than it is. (I thought it was a missed opportunity, said Jenny McCartney in The Sunday Telegraph. Somewhere inside this flabby, sentimental rom-com, a shorter, sharper, darker work is struggling to get out.) If you haven t seen the director s other films you may find it hard to understand the film. (The picture is a disappointment, said Philip French in The Observer. Those unacquainted with Arriaga s work might think that the projectionist has put the reels on in the wrong order.) The way the director introduces the characters in his films is quite frustrating. (I ve begun to tire of Arriaga s structural gimmick, said Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian. By constantly withholding information about his characters, the director has become a kind of Rolf Harris figure, asking us, mid-picture, if we can see what it is yet.) The director deliberately wanted to make it difficult for audiences to know what is happening in the film. (If only he wasn t so wilfully obscure, said James Christopher in The Times. By playing up every ounce of ambiguity in every scene, Arriaga draws dangerous attention to the velvet shroud of self-importance around his film.) 9. Explain that they are going to look in more detail at some of the techniques used to bring the reviews to life and make them more interesting to read. Give each group a set of narrative techniques cards and ask them to try to match up the techniques with the examples from the texts. Note that students may not be familiar with all the techniques (or at least the names for them) in this case the activity can be used as a way to introduce students to the techniques. Answers: See narrative techniques table on p8 of this resource. 10. At this stage it is worth spending time considering why each of these techniques is used in these texts. There are no concrete answers here, but points to mention might be as follows: Idiom/figurative language and irony are used to add colour to the reviews and thereby make them more interesting and engaging to read. Cataphoric reference is used as a literary technique to engage the reader with the text the reader is obliged to read on to find out who or what is being referred to. As with cataphoric reference, fronting and inversion are used to change the way a sentence is weighted information which would normally be placed later in a sentence is moved to the front, thereby adding emphasis to that information and drawing the reader into the rest of the sentence. Both are in a sense examples of cataphoric reference on a text level. Synonyms are used to avoid repetition of the same word or phrase. 11. Ask students to see if they can find other examples of the use of idiom/figurative language, irony and synonymy elsewhere in the texts. Suggested answers: Irony: the reference to Rolf Harris in the third text students will almost certainly need to have this explained to them; Matthew Bond s comment in the second text ( you get an awful lot of hair for your money ) is perhaps another example. Idiom/figurative language: a much-needed kick in the goolies in text one; a safety blanket, a bubble bath in text two, and a velvet shroud in text three are good examples Page 3 of 9

4 Synonyms: the way the films themselves are referred to: text one: film; movie; drama; Bronson text two: David Frankel s film; Marley & Me; The movie; this flabby, sentimental rom-com text three: His directorial debut; The picture; his film Extension This type of composite text is typical of those in The Week, and in a sense it represents a separate genre of text. Composing such a text is a skill in itself, similar to summarising but in fact more like the skill of weaving. This term is used in online tutoring to refer to the skill of composing a summary of different people s opinions. Weaving is a challenging activity because it requires the main points to be extracted from different texts and then organised and linked together appropriately. With texts such as these film reports in The Week the skill can be practised by giving students just the comments from the reviewers in isolation and asking them to write a paragraph which links the comments together both cohesively and coherently. Alternatively, students could be asked to read different reviews of any film (on the internet or in a range of newspapers) and then weave the opinions together to form their own composite texts Page 4 of 9

5 Trailer questions a) What are the names of the films? b) Who are the actors in each one? c) What kind of film is each one? d) What do you think happens in each film? e) What might be the positive and negative aspects of each film (Note: as above) f) Which film would you most like to see, and why? Page 5 of 9

6 Names from the texts Charles Bronson Matthew Bond Tom Hardy Robert Hanks Charlize Theron Chris Tookey Kim Basinger Jenny McCartney Jonathan Romney Guillermo Arriaga Nicholas Winding Refn Cosmo Landesman Eric Bana Philip French David Frankel Peter Bradshaw Owen Wilson James Christopher Jennifer Aniston Sukhdev Sandhu Jennifer Lawrence Actors Directors Reviewers Characters Page 6 of 9

7 Reviewers comments It s easy to see why the subject of this film will appeal to British people. It s a very unattractive film and we don t learn anything from it. There isn t much of a plot to link the different events together. The main actor s performance is very impressive. The main stars are perfectly suited to each other. It seems like the aim of the film is to make people feel positive about things. The film could have been much better than it is. If you haven t seen the director s other films you may find it hard to understand the film. The way the director introduces the characters in his films is quite frustrating. The director deliberately wanted to make it difficult for audiences to know what is happening in the film Page 7 of 9

8 Jumbled text Jailed for seven years in 1974, Charles Bronson (played here by Tom Hardy) has spent the bulk of his life in prison thanks to a string of offences committed behind bars. David Frankel s film stars Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston as a newly married couple whose lives are turned upside-down by the arrival of a cute yet unpredictable Labrador. We Brits love a hard man, said Jonathan Romney in The Independent on Sunday, so it s no surprise that a film has been made about Bronson s exploits. The screenwriter of Babel, 21 Grams and Amores Perros, Guillermo Arriaga specialises in films with complex narrative structures. The pairing of Aniston and Wilson is such an inspired piece of casting, you wonder why it hasn t happened before, said Matthew Bond in The Mail on Sunday. However, Nicholas Winding Refn s movie isn t what you d expect: it s more a Brechtian black comedy than a full-on prison drama. His directorial debut links together the seemingly unrelated lives of hotelier Charlize Theron and single mother Kim Basinger, who lives on the Mexican border with her daughter (Jennifer Lawrence). They are both good-looking, very funny, and you get an awful lot of hair for your money. That doesn t stop it being a heavyweight contender for most unpleasant, ugly and pointless film of 2009, said Chris Tookey in the Daily Mail. Refn takes a fashionably nihilistic line on Bronson s crimes, but makes no attempt to understand him or to derive any lessons from his behaviour. The picture is a disappointment, said Philip French in The Observer. And, indeed, Marley & Me is a modestly heart-warming tale that s silly and scatological enough to entertain children and offers just enough home truths particularly on the pain and exhaustion of early parenthood to keep adults happy. Those unacquainted with Arriaga s work might think that the projectionist has put the reels on in the wrong order. The movie appears to have been conceived as a safety blanket, a bubble bath for our troubled times, said Sukhdev Sandhu in The Daily Telegraph. There s also not much in the way of a story, said Robert Hanks in The Independent. I ve begun to tire of Arriaga s structural gimmick, said Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian. Bronson has interesting isolated incidents, but not much narrative drive. By constantly withholding information about his characters, the director has become a kind of Rolf Harris figure, asking us, mid-picture, if we can see what it is yet. Those of a cynical persuasion will find it soporific and insufferably smug. Even so, it s a remarkable film which gives the whole gangster genre a much-needed kick in the goolies, said Cosmo Landesman in The Sunday Times. If only he wasn t so willfully obscure, said James Christopher in The Times. I thought it was a missed opportunity, said Jenny McCartney in The Sunday Telegraph. And Hardy is mesmerising in the title role: not since Eric Bana s Chopper have we been given such a powerful performance of a man of violence. Somewhere inside this flabby, sentimental rom-com, a shorter, sharper, darker work is struggling to get out. By playing up every ounce of ambiguity in every scene, Arriaga draws dangerous attention to the velvet shroud of self-importance around his film Page 8 of 9

9 Narrative techniques synonymy a string of offences. exploits. crimes.behaviour cataphoric reference The screenwriter of Babel, 21 Grams and Amores Perros, Guillermo Arriaga specialises in films with complex narrative structures irony might think that the projectionist has put the reels on in the wrong order idiom / figurative language a newly married couple whose lives are turned upside-down fronting By playing up every ounce of ambiguity in every scene, Arriaga draws dangerous attention to inversion not since Eric Bana s Chopper have we been given such a powerful performance of a man of violence Page 9 of 9